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This page is part of the Hoax Archive, a collection of history's most interesting and notorious deceptions categorized by theme and time period.
Hoax Museum Archives
Jacko
Date: July 4, 1884
Categories: Cryptozoology, Bigfoot, 1850-1899
Categories: Cryptozoology, Bigfoot, 1850-1899
The British Columbia Daily Colonist reported that a gorilla-type creature had been captured by railway workers and was being held in a local jail. It was given the nickname "Jacko." However, the entire thing turned out to be a hoax, as the hundreds of people who visited the jail and tried to view Jacko discovered, since Jacko was nonexistent. This story languished in obscurity until the 1950s when a reporter came across a reference to it (unaware it had turned out to be a newspaper hoax) and publicized it as an early example of a Sasquatch sighting.



